Studies at Orléans School of Art and Design are organized in a three-tier curriculum, the first leads to a Bachelor of Arts in Art Studies (French DNA), the second to a Master of Arts in Plastic Expression (French DNSEP), the third to different types of degrees, including the Advanced Research Degree in Design (French DSRD).

The admission to the second-level programme is submitted to a specific procedure.

MA specializations

Fourth year

From their acquired knowledge, students build their course, deepen their theoretical learning, culture and at the same time, develop a personal plastic project. This project is the focus of their artistic training. The thesis is the centre of the intellectual training, enabling the articulation of the theoretical with the plastic approach.

During the semesters 7 and 8 (4th year), students acquire all the fundamentals needed for their diploma project: guidance in their personal plastic project, theoretical training, practical English learning. A maximum 6-month traineeship or a mobility period abroad are equally part of the 4th year curriculum.

Furthermore, whatever the specialization or course chosen, students receive a diversified and transversal education appertaining to showcasing, drafting projects, production and dissemination practices, as well as  the professional specificities of the world of art and design.

Finally, students are involved in a time of collective or collaborative research work, devised to initiate them to the logics and methods of research in art and in design. This shared time also allows students to understand how projects are co-produced with architects, artists, designers, engineers, scientists, theorists, or additionally political and economic decision-makers. This time appears in the research in art and design programmes (RAD).

Fifth year

The fifth year evolves around the students’ personal projects and the teachings which enable to feed the project and consider a prospective professional life. Students remain highly involved in one of the four research in art and design programmes.

The end of the fifth year is validated by the French, Diplôme National Supérieur d’Expression Plastique, Master level.

Master of Arts/Diplôme National Supérieur d’Expression Plastique (DNSEP)

The DNSEP validates the fifth year of studies and is a Master’s level. It is on the French National Directory of Professional Certification, at level I.

The DNSEP examination✨ consists in part of a showcasing of the student’s plastic project, viva of master’s thesis centred on their plastic practice, as well as a critical presentation of the whole approach before a jury. The latter is composed of four personalities exterior to the school, and one school representative.

Assessment criteria of the DNSEP:

  • Presentation of the work (formal and critical) 
  • Elaboration of the project and research process
  • Positing the work (pertinence of the references and articulation of the ideas; level of conceptualisation)
  • Pertinence of the concept and quality of the plastic formulation

The DNSEP presentation is preceded by an interview in front of an internal commission who decides, after assessment, on the capacity of the student to defend their diploma. The assessment criteria of the student’s capacity are:

  • Assertion of an artistic personality and the ability to carry out an original approach, in the specific discipline
  • The capacity to carry out a project independently
  • The capacity to carry out a project in a collective or collaborative framework
  • The adaptability of different professional and cultural contexts, including an international and/or intercultural approach
  • The capacity to conduct a critical work.

For further information, consult the statutory text.